Volume 9 - CH 4

Chapter 4: Finale 

Evening. The monster attacks relented, and when we heard Fuuga had returned from the battlefield, we brought Yuriga to the courtyard, where he was bound to have landed. 

When we arrived there... 

“Ha ha ha! Good! Give me more!” Fuuga called. 

“Don’t underestimate meeee!” Hal yelled back. 

Hal and Fuuga were engaged in an intense exchange of blows. 

Kaede and Ruby were there, too, so... 

“Hey, why are they fighting?” I asked, but they must have been absorbed in watching the fight, because no response was forthcoming. 

Hal’s Twin Snake Spears and Fuuga’s crescent blade screamed as they collided, the sound of the impact echoing several times. 

Judging from the general attitude of the entranced soldiers who were watching, I assumed it was a mock battle, but because they were each using their favored weapons, the intensity was on another level. 

Hal used two spears in a series of jabs at Fuuga, but Fuuga switched between the blade-end and the pommel of his crescent blade as he batted them away. Then, seeing an opening, Fuuga took a swing with his crescent blade, but Hal crossed his Twin Snake Spears to block it. 

After an incredible back-and-forth battle, I couldn’t tell which had the superior martial prowess. However, Fuuga was the one who looked most composed. 

“You’ve got good spirit! Even in my country, there aren’t many warriors as brave as you!” Fuuga called. 

“Enough yammering! Don’t act like this is easy for you!” 

Hal, on the other hand, seemed to be getting fired up... The guy was kind of the king of another country, so I wished he’d watch his words, but well, Fuuga wasn’t one to care. 

Then Hal jumped back as Fuuga took a big swing, and while parrying the strike with one spear, he threw its twin toward Fuuga. 

He’d made the throw from an unbalanced position, but after just finishing an attack, Fuuga was unable to react so suddenly. 

“Whoa, that’s dangerous!” Fuuga bent his upper body backward and out of the way. It was possible to dodge like that? 

In order to make a follow-up attack, Hal thrust out with his other spear once more. 

“This settles it!” he yelled. “...?!” 

“Halbert, was it? You really do have a good sense for this.” Fuuga let go of his crescent blade and took hold of the Twin Snake Spear that had fallen to the ground. “Another five years of training, and maybe you’ll catch up to me.” 

“Wha...! Whoa?!” 

When Fuuga gripped the chain he’d taken hold of, he turned his body to swing Hal around. Like he was doing the hammer throw, Fuuga made Hal run in circles around him. Then, after one and a half times around, Fuuga let go of the chain, and the excess momentum made Hal fall to the ground. 

Fuuga clapped his hands and said, “But by that point, I’ll be even further ahead.” 

He was strong. He’d been literally swinging Hal around. 

He possessed such overwhelming martial prowess that I could understand why Aisha would be wary of him. 

“Hal!” Kaede cried. 

“Hold on, are you okay?!” 

Kaede and Ruby ran over to his side at the same time. 

Hal’s eyes must have been spinning, because he clutched his forehead, muttering, “He’s strong...” to himself. 

“Hm? Oh, if it isn’t Souma.” Having noticed us, Fuuga came over. “You have my thanks for looking after Yuriga. It was a big help.” 

“That’s fine, but... Why exactly were you fighting our Halbert?” 

“It was a mock battle, just a mock battle. If I fight nothing but weak monsters, my skills will rot. There was a guy who looked like he had some idea what he was doing, so I had him face me.” 

Weak monsters...? Fuuga was probably the only one who saw them that way. 

In the Kingdom of Lastania, we hadn’t known what traits the monsters had, so we’d observed their forms and behaviors, prepared ourselves, and found an effective way to counter them. 

Hakuya, Kaede, Julius, and I had all wracked our brains to come up with a strategy, with the understanding that monsters were frightening. 

However, to Fuuga, that was all just petty tricks. 

If he had the martial prowess to break through any troubles, and the guts to believe in that power, he could face any enemy without fear. He wasn’t just a muscle head. 

People gathered because they were drawn to Fuuga’s valor, and they believed with him they could overcome anything. 

Fuuga looked at Aisha beside me as he said, “I’d like to ask permission to face the young lady there, too.” 

“You mean Aisha?” 

“I can tell from her face. She’s quite skilled. I think it’d be a good fight.” 

“No, but that’s...” I glanced over at Aisha. 

Her eyes were burning with the desire to fight. “Sire, I also wish to fight with Sir Fuuga. It’s not often I have the chance to face a man of his caliber. It will be a good chance to reflect on my own technique.” 

She was raring to go. Neither looked likely to back down. 

“...Very well. But I don’t want you getting hurt, or hurting him.” 

“Yes, sire. He is the king of another country, after all. I understand.” 

“Fuuga. Aisha is a woman who will be my queen. It would be a problem if she were to be injured.” 

“I get it. I’ll hold back.” 

Ah... when she heard the words “hold back,” Aisha must have taken that as a provocation, because she got upset. 

...I was getting worried whether they both really understood me. 

Then Aisha fell into a stance with her greatsword, and Fuuga readied his crescent blade. 

“Then, I shall begin!” 

“Let’s do this!” 

The two kicked off the ground simultaneously, and blade clashed with blade. In that instant, a noise or shockwave resounded, and all of the nearby soldiers had their heads knocked back. 

From there, the two traded blow after blow. It wasn’t a contest of skill like Fuuga’s battle with Hal; it was a struggle to crush the enemy with brute strength. 

The terrifying part was, while Fuuga had been able to overwhelm Hal with technique, he wasn’t coming up short against Aisha’s idiot strength, either. He had both power and finesse. He was what I could only call a natural warrior. 

While trading blows with Aisha, he let out an amused laugh. “Is the kingdom a dungeon? You’ve got all sorts springing out of that place!” 

While Fuuga seemed to be enjoying himself, Aisha was upset. 

“If you’re laughing during a fight, this must be easy for you.” 

“Not so much. Each and every blow is incredibly heavy. But...!” 

When Aisha’s greatsword tried to mow him down with a horizontal swing, Fuuga got into a position with one leg bent, the other leg stretched out (like during warm-up exercises) to slip under it and out of the way. Then, with a full horizontal swing of his crescent blade, he tried to strike Aisha’s exposed torso. 

“Urkh!” 

Maybe having decided she wouldn’t make it in time if she used the blade of her greatsword to block it, Aisha reacted by using the long hilt to do so instead. There was a loud clang. However, in her compromised stance, she couldn’t hope to absorb the blow completely, and she was sent flying about five meters. 

“Wait, Aisha got thrown?!” I cried. 

“No, in order to avoid the impact, she jumped back on her own.” Juna explained from beside me. 

Looking at her, Aisha had landed nimbly, so being sent flying must have been part of her plan all along. 

“Well, is it an even fight, then?” 

“...No,” Juna said. “When Sir Fuuga went to mow through Aisha’s torso, he didn’t do it with his blade, but with the hilt. He must have kept his promise not to injure her.” 

“Oh! That’s why she was able to block with the hilt?” 

“Yes, that’s right. If he had hit with the blade... though her greatsword’s hilt does have a steel core to it, she might not have been able to stop it with that.” 

She’d been saved by how surprisingly honest Fuuga was? That was probably why Aisha had such a frustrated look on her face after fending off the attack. 

Fuuga spun his crescent blade overhead like a windmill before readying it again. 

“You rely too much on your inborn strength, Young Miss Aisha. That’s gotten you by so far, I’m sure, but when you face an opponent with the same strength, superiority is determined by technique.” 

“I’m inexperienced... is what you’re saying. The world truly is vast.” 

“Do you want to keep going?” 

“Of course! Because as His Majesty’s blade, as his shield, I cannot lose!” 

“Ha ha ha! That’s the spirit! You’re well-loved, Souma!” 

“Here I come!” Aisha went to face Fuuga again. 

Though they were trading blows once more, it looked like Fuuga did hold the advantage. 

There was no doubt he was among the top warriors on the continent. That man was a king, and there was a country he ruled. It was a terrifying thought. 

However, Aisha wasn’t the top warrior in our kingdom for nothing, so she was managing to hold her own against Fuuga somehow. 

While I was absorbed in watching the fight, Mutsumi who was watching beside us, spoke up. “They both have such wonderful technique. Just watching them has got my blood boiling.” 

Mutsumi looked over at Juna. 

“From what I can tell, you practice the martial arts yourself. Would you care for a match with me?” 

Having said that, Mutsumi offered Juna a wooden sword. 

“I specialize in surprise attacks, not frontal ones.” Although she said that, Juna took the wooden sword. “But I was interested in you, too, Madam Mutsumi.” 

“You were?” 

“Yes. In your beautiful face and fighting skills that make the commanders of the union obsess over you.” Juna readied her sword with a wink at me. “Because making His Majesty obsess over me is my job.” 

I couldn’t help but be entranced by Juna’s mischievous smile. 

That night... 

“You’re looking pretty cool, Hal,” Kaede said. 

“I like how the horns on your head kind of match mine,” Ruby agreed. 

“R-Really?” 

Hal had put the oni hachigane on right away, but he seemed not at all unhappy with the praise Kaede and Ruby were giving him for it. He liked anything that served him. Well, not that I could blame him for feeling that way. 

In the room with me were Aisha, Juna, Naden, Halbert, Kaede, Ruby, Kuu, and Leporina. We were about to go through a final confirmation of what we would do from here. 

They had said they wanted to watch, too, so little Tomoe and Ichiha were sitting on chairs over by the wall. 

I spread the map of the area around Wedan that I had borrowed from Duke Chima across the table. 

“Now then, I’d like to get started...” 

Having said that, I glanced over beside Tomoe. For some reason, Yuriga was sitting there like she had every right to. 

“Didn’t you go back to Fuuga?” I asked. 

“Well, I don’t have anything better to do. My brother falls asleep quickly on days where he goes wild on the battlefield.” 

“That doesn’t mean you have to come to us.” 

“This is the only place with kids my age. Please, I won’t get in the way!” Yuriga put her hands together and pleaded. 

If I treated her badly, I felt like it’d hurt my relationship with Fuuga later... Guess there was nothing else for it. 

“Just watch quietly, okay?” I sighed. 

“I know that.” 

“Hahh... Okay, Kaede, go ahead with the explanation, please.” 

“Got it. Please look at the map, you know.” My staff officer Kaede stood up, pointing to the map as she spoke. “This is the current deployment of the Union of Eastern Nations. We will be joining up with the reinforcements from the Kingdom of Friedonia, so we will not be joining this deployment. The overall flow is simple. While the forces of the Union of Eastern Nations are holding back the invading monsters, we in the forces of the Kingdom of Friedonia strike them from behind, encircling and eliminating the monsters quickly. That is all.” 

“...Huh? That’s all?” Hal sounded disappointed. He must have expected a more detailed explanation. 

Seeing Hal like that, Kaede shut him down. “Hal, our forces outnumber the monsters, and our equipment is superior. It’s a simple plan, but in the current situation, it is the most certain and effective tactic we can use.” 

“S-Sure... I get it.” Having been given a reasonable explanation, Hal stayed quiet. 

Well, Kaede was giving it her stamp of approval, so she was probably right. 

I told everyone, “We will join up with the main force led by Ludwin tonight. Hal, Kaede, Ruby, you will be fighting under Ludwin’s command. As for Tomoe... I’d be worried about leaving her in this castle, so I’ll keep her at my side, I think.” 

“Okay, Big Brother.” 

“Aisha, Juna, Naden, please join the main force, too.” 

““Understood.”” 

“Roger that.” 

“Are there any other questions?” I asked. 

“Over here, Bro.” The first hand to shoot up was Kuu’s. “Is it okay for us to fight this time?” 

“No, that’s not happening. I was so short-handed that I wanted your help in the Kingdom of Lastania, but now we have the forces to overwhelm the enemy. This time, I’d like you to sit tight.” 

Kuu clasped his hands behind his head and pursed his lips. “Tch. Well, can we stay here in Wedan Castle, then? I want to watch how the Union of Eastern Nations’ forces fight from this side.” 

“I don’t really mind, but... don’t go joining the front line just because we’re not around to see it. If anything were to happen to you, I could never face Sir Gouran.” 

“Ookyakya! I know that.” Kuu nodded, but I couldn’t help but worry. 

I looked over at Leporina. “Leporina. I feel bad giving you what sounds like an order when you’re not my retainer, but keep a close eye on Kuu for me. If he looks like he’s going to join the front line, can I count on you to do whatever it takes to stop him?” 

“Urgh... I don’t know that I can stop him, but I’ll do my best,” she said. 

“Please do. If you want, you’re welcome to shoot out his legs with that bow of yours.” 

“Ookya?! Bro, isn’t that a little harsh?!” Kuu protested, but I decided to ignore him. If Kuu got hurt badly, it was liable to turn into a diplomatic incident, so I wanted him to show some restraint. 

I figured that, for now, I was done with giving orders. 

But... 

Later, because both Duke Chima and Fuuga gave permission, we ended up bringing three little kids back to the main camp with us. 

Fortunately, Tomoe (a mystic wolf), Ichiha (a human), and Yuriga (some sort of crow tengu-style beastman) reminded me of a dog, monkey, and pheasant. 

Were we going oni-slaying? Who was Momotarou? 

We did have a Red Oni on our side, though. 

Thick clouds covered the sky, and the strong wind felt cold on the skin that day. 

In the camps of the forces of the Union of Eastern Nations near the walls surrounding Wedan’s city, the commanders from each country that had led an army here were raising their voices to inspire their troops. 

“Listen! Reinforcements from the Kingdom of Friedonia will soon arrive!” 

“These reinforcements are a grand army of 50,000, and the battle for Wedan will no doubt end today! In short, today will be our last chance to earn battlefield glories!” 

“Once the forces of the Kingdom of Friedonia arrive, there will be no place left for us to distinguish ourselves! We can’t let Malmkhitan’s cavalry hog all the glory!” 

“The reward is Duke Chima’s six children. That means only six countries can be rewarded. We all must strive to be one of those six!” 

“““Ohhhhhhh!””” 

Battle shouts rose up from camps here and there. 

Learning of the impending arrival of the Kingdom of Friedonia’s forces, the generals of the Union of Eastern Nations were attempting to raise their fervor for one last show of glory. 

The soldiers moved into action in response to their generals’ incitement. 

Up on the walls surrounding Wedan, watching those forces of the Union of Eastern Nations, was Kuu. 

“Ookyakya! They’ve all gone mad! They must want to take the beautiful Madam Mutsumi for themselves pretty badly!” 

“You say that, but the truth is you want to join in, too, don’t you, Young Master?” Leporina said, sounding exasperated with the playful Kuu. “Lady Mutsumi was pretty, after all.” 

“Hmm? I’d love to go wild down there, but I’m not really interested in Young Miss Mutsumi. I’m more into the type of cute girls who’ll make me want to protect them despite myself.” 

“Is that the type of girl Taru is?” 

“She used to be a crybaby, remember? She’s gotten stubborn now, though.” 

“Now that you mention it... That’s right.” 

Kuu, Taru, and Leporina were childhood friends. Leporina could remember those days long ago. 

When they were children, Taru had been shy and a crybaby, always hiding behind Kuu or Leporina. Kuu would try to get her to laugh, doing naughty things, spinning his wheels, and just making Taru cry even more. Then Kuu would be hit by his father Gouran, and Leporina would be lectured, too, for her failure to control him. 

It must have been around puberty that their relationship had taken a turn. 

Kuu could only communicate his affection to Taru in a joking way, Taru couldn’t be true to her feelings even when she felt affection for Kuu, and because Leporina knew their feelings for each other, she maintained a position that wasn’t cruel to Taru, but which let her stay at Kuu’s side. 

Before she knew it, a strange three-way relationship had formed between them. 

Will this relationship change someday, too? If possible, I hope it can take a form that all three of us want. For that, do I need to make a move myself? 

It happened while Leporina was pondering that question. 

“Oh! Is that him over there?!” Kuu stood up, saying that as he looked at a specific point on the battlefield. 

When Leporina followed his line of sight, there was a white tiger racing across the battlefield. It was Fuuga’s mount, Durga. Did that mean the speck on its back was Fuuga? 

Fuuga and Durga looked like a ship sailing smoothly across a sea of monsters. 

While watching that scene, Kuu let out a sigh. “Fuuga Han, was it? I can see why he had Bro worried. Man, it sure is a wide world out here. To think there was an incredible guy like that hiding in it.” 

“Is he incredible? He’s certainly strong, I agree...” 

In response to Leporina’s skepticism, the corners of Kuu’s mouth turned up in a slight smile. 

“He’s not just strong. The guy’s pure. You could call him the greediest man in the world. He’ll reach out for what he wants over and over, trying to grasp it. Even if it’s in the fire, and it’s something that will burn him badly if he tries to take it. Seriously, he’s scary.” 

Despite saying that the man was scary, Kuu seemed amused. 

“Even when it comes to things Bro or Empress Maria would hesitate to touch, he’ll reach for them without hesitation. On the day that he has more power than he does now, his pure greed may cover this whole continent. Ohh, this is scary, scary stuff.” 

It was a bit too abstract for Leporina to understand what Kuu was trying to say. However, one thing she could say for certain was that Kuu was convinced about something. 

“Is this your intuition, Young Master?” 

“Well, something like that, but I’m confident. He embodies the life I idealize. He’s chasing a huge dream, and he’s got the power to make it real. If I could live like that, it’d feel great... but if he becomes an enemy, he’ll be trouble.” 

When he said that, Kuu’s smile vanished, and he glared straight in Fuuga’s direction. 

“The Republic of Turgis is cold, and the currents in the air make it so wyverns can’t fly. That’s been a problem for us, but at the same time, it’s had the benefit of preventing outside countries from attacking. Even if they could conquer us, we’d be hard to rule, so there’s little for them to gain. That’s why Bro and Madam Maria wouldn’t think to attack us.” 

“...And Fuuga would be different?” Leporina hesitantly asked. 

Kuu sat down and crossed his legs. “His dream becomes the dream of those who follow him. If he were dreaming of unifying the continent, then if it meant a little... no, even a lot of losses for no return, I’m sure he’d invade. Just to make his dream come true.” 

“No...” 

“If you were to ask Bro, he might have a different perspective, but that’s how it feels to me. We can’t take it easy. There’s no guarantee Bro or Madam Maria will stop him for us. We’ve gotta build a country for ourselves that won’t lose, even if he comes to invade us.” 

Leporina was silent. 

There were already hints of a ruler-like dignity in Kuu’s eyes, making Leporina lose herself in them despite herself. She didn’t know if he was aware of it himself, but by going outside the Republic of Turgis, Kuu had been steadily maturing. 

Leporina pressed on her chest as her heart pounded. 

In order to stay with Master Kuu for all my life, I must... be prepared. 

At some point, the flames of determination had begun to burn in Leporina’s eyes, too. 

At that time, the forces of the Union of Eastern Nations began to stir. That was because they had spotted the 50,000 strong forces of the Kingdom of Friedonia on the other side of the swarm of monsters. 

Thus, the demon wave moved toward its final stage.